Alena is four years old today! Happy birthday to our sweet girl!

Every year I go back and read my birthday posts from years past. It’s striking how much has changed–how much Alena has grown and matured, how much she’s learned, and how many new experiences she has had. It’s also striking how much has not changed! Even as a one-year-old she showed personality traits that have persisted–vivaciousness, creativity and imagination, sweetness, affection, and a healthy dose of sass. We love her so much and all that makes her unique!

This was a big year for Alena as she started attending preschool two mornings a week. She was very brave about going, and walked in the first day without any tears. At first her teachers described her as shy and said she liked to observe more than participate, but in time she relaxed and showed her true colors. They now describe her as talkative, engaged and friendly! She comes home full of stories about her friends, her teachers, and her learning (and often her clothes are full of paint, sand or mud).

One of her favorite things to do after school is stop and get a treat from DJ’s bakery. She’ll usually choose a donut or a soft pretzel, eat off all the frosting or all the salt, and then hand the mutilated remains to me to finish. I guess that’s a win-win?

Alena resists favorites, or rather changes her favorites constantly, but does have a few abiding loves. Food-wise she eats more mac and cheese than any other food. If I let her, she’d probably eat more chocolate than any other food. At age three Alena loved puppies but has firmly switched her allegiance to cats. She showers our cat Bowie with her love, she adores books about cats, stuffed cats, and watching kitty videos (which she and Jaime do together when he puts her to bed). Between Alena and Lucas there is no shortage of kitty love around here!

Alena loves a wide variety of arts and crafts and messy activities. She often can be found drawing or coloring or littering the floor with tiny scraps of paper because for some reason, she loves cutting up paper. She enjoys playdough too, and and unlike her big brother who always kept his colors separate and in their proper place, she mixes it all to create an enormous “rainbow” blob.

Alena likes to be fashionable has gone through several style phases this year. For a while she favored pretty dresses and rarely wore anything else…even to bed! She went through a leopard print phase (she calls it cheetah print) and would often sport it head to toe. Then for a time she wanted everything tucked in and walked around looking like an old man with her pants pulled way up and her shirts stuffed in. Currently her style is more fluid but involves multiple outfit changes per day, which often means a fun little surprise when I step into her room at bedtime and find the floor littered with a week’s worth of clothing.

Growing up in this household means that Alena has been exposed to soccer since birth. She enjoys playing with Jaime and Lucas (and occasionally me) and this year she took her first real soccer class. She is quick and has a pretty strong kick for such a small fry. She also seems to be left-footed like Lucas and Jaime! She enjoys playing in our backyard, basement and even the living room (they’ve only knocked over one plant and broken one lamp).

I overheard the following conversation the other morning:

“Dad, let’s play soccer together!”

“OK, sure, but I have to get ready for work in a few minutes!”

“Dad, you need to go get the goals out.”

“Let’s just pass back and forth. After work I’ll have more time and we can get the goals out.”

[*dramatic sigh] “Dad, just go get them now…” (He did.)

One of Alena’s favorite things to do is play and relax with her big bro. The two of them have so much fun together and it warms my mother heart. Lucas cooks up all sorts of high drama adventures and they use a variety of characters and stuffed animals to play out the stories he creates. Alena has lots of ideas too and does her best to insert herself into the planning process (with mixed results). They also like to wrestle and chase and playfight and run around screaming like maniacs. I love the joy and exuberance! (That is when I’m not telling them to be careful, or to quiet down lest I go deaf, or any other number of stodgy parental admonitions.)

Although Alena sometimes poses as quiet when we’re out and about, at home she rarely stops talking. Her favorite time to strike up a deep conversation is once she’s in bed and is supposed to be falling asleep. We had one such conversation just the other night:

“Mom, can Jesus see us right now?”

“Yes.”

“Well then I’ll bet he wonders where Lucas and Daddy are!”

“I think he can see Lucas and Daddy too.”

“How many eyes does he have?!?”

“Well, it’s just he sees differently than we do. He’s more powerful than we are. He even made the world!”

“Yeah! And that’s kind of tricky! Wait…did Jesus make butterflies?”

“Yes!”

“Wow. Thank you for telling me that. I will never forget that because I love butterflies!”

I love these sweet conversations with my girl, and this age of learning and curiosity and questions.

We are proud of Alena and are so grateful that God gave her to us. She lives up to her name, Alena Abigail, which means bright, shining light and bringer of joy.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart. We love you!